~ By Tom Boggie

With the 2022 racing season winding down, it won’t be long before tracks and sanctioning bodies begin handing out end-of-year awards.

I’m going to start today. My vote for Promoter of the Year goes to Jordan Modiano.

What he put on last Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway was pretty incredible.

For those who don’t know, Modiano races pro stocks at Albany-Saratoga. A native of Long Island, he began his racing career on asphalt before moving to the Capital Region in 1999. He’s now the owner of Express Employment Professionals of Albany, and is widely known as a motivational speaker and leadership trainer.

He’s also a huge proponent of Autism awareness. His daughter Rachel is on the spectrum, and he lives with it every day of his life.

He began putting together the “Dare To Be Different – Race for Autism” feature long before the 2022 season began. He drummed up a ton of sponsorship, and the race was advertised to pay $2,500 to win, making it one of the highest paying pro stocks races of the year.

But in recent weeks, the purse kept growing, and when Richie Peterson finally dropped the green flag last Friday night, the 34-lap feature would pay $3,555 to win. In addition, drivers would receive a $100 bonus for every lap led. Sponsors put up $125 per lap, with the other $25 going to benefit Autism awareness.

By paying $3,555 to win, Modiano created the biggest winner’s share ever in pro stock racing. To put this in perspective, the pro stocks will be racing for $2,000 to win at the 50th annual Super DIRT Week in Oswego next month.

Once Wyatt Younger, who also has Autism, sang the national anthem, Modiano’s daughter Rachel climbed the stairs of the starter’s stand to serve as the honorary starter.

Now, you have to remember, pro stocks drivers at Albany-Saratoga are lucky, because they normally race for $1,000 to win, through sponsorship money, on Friday nights. But with $3,555 on the line, and many outside drivers in the field, fans knew this one could get wild.

And it did.

Luke Horning and Rich Crane started on the front row and quickly took command, with Nick Stone, driving his Utica-Rome car, not far behind. Horning was getting good runs out of the fourth turn on the high side, while Crane was working the inside groove, right in front of Stone.

On lap 15, Modiano began a rash of yellow flags when he slowed on the backstretch, the victim of a flat tire (he wouldn’t be the only one). One lap later, Rob Yetman went around in four and after completing one more lap, Ivan Joslin suffered a flat right rear, and Yetman went to the pits with a flat right front.

Crane and Horning continued their side-by-side battle, and on lap 18, Crane drifted up in the second turn, right into the left side of Horning’s car. But both kept going.

On lap 21, Crane got a great run coming out of the second turn and finally nosed in front of Horning, who picked up $2,000 in bonus money for leading the first 20 laps.

Stone, who was running as low as he could on the inside, took over second on lap 26 and one lap later, the yellow was out again, this time for Brandon Emigh, who also had a flat right rear.

Jay Casey brought out another yellow on lap 30, coming to a stop between the first and second turns and when the field slowed for yet another caution on lap 33, it became apparent that Stone was racing with a flat left front tire.

This one wasn’t done yet. Tim Baker, whose car had been reduced to basically a skeleton (after losing most of the sheet metal), spun around in the fourth turn, forcing Peterson to put his right arm, which had to be aching by now, back in motion with another yellow.

As the field came through the third turn for the restart, Crane began to fire just as promoter Lyle DeVore yelled, “We’re staying yellow” over the Raceceiver because he didn’t like the way the field was gapped for the restart.

Crane backed off the gas, but the botched restart forced a chain reaction behind him. Stone went around in the fourth turn and was hit by Beau Ballard. Crane then outjumped track champion Chad Jeseo on the restart and came away with the victory.

With the win, and adding another $1,300 in lap money, Crane earned $4,855 for the victory.

“The car was better on the long runs,” said Crane after recording his second win of the season at Malta. “On every caution, the tires were cooling down. I just want to say I apologize for that last green. Lyle told us not to go green, so I slowed down.

“We’re lucky to race here every week, and what Jordan did tonight is amazing. I’m going to donate all of the money back to his charity.”

The race raised over $10,000, which will be used to benefit Autism awareness.

Benefit races can sometimes turn into an afterthought on a full night of racing, but this one was different, and Modiano deserves a ton of credit for putting it all together.

MORE FROM MALTA

If Chris Crane Jr. is any indication, the future of dirt track racing will be in good hands, at least until internal combustion engines are outlawed completely.

Crane Jr., who is 14, wrapped up the limited sportsman championship last Friday by finishing second to David Zelker in the feature. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Crane Jr. is the youngest open-wheel division champion in the history of the speedway. Hunter Bates was 15 when he won the sportsman championship in 2010, the first year that racing at Malta was held on asphalt.

Crane displays an experience level that is far beyond his years, and he also delivered an articulate post-race speech after wrapping up the championship.

“I didn’t think anything would top my first win, but this is awesome,” he said. “I think the key to winning the championship was that I didn’t have a single DNF. That really helped me, in the overall scheme of things.”

He recorded three wins on his way to the title.

Mike Ballestero got a little choked up in victory lane after winning the sportsman feature. That was the 63-year-old Ballestero’s first victory at Albany-Saratoga Speedway since 2008. “These guys believed in me,” Ballestero said, talking about his crew and longtime sponsors. “They never gave up on me.”

The win was the 33rd of Ballestero’s career at Malta, and he became the 16th different winner in the sportsman division this season.

Chris Jakubiak debuted a brand new car last Friday, but it only lasted half-a-lap, coming in on a hook after problems during hot laps. He jumped into his hauler and went home for his regular car. He returned in time to lead flag-to-flag to win his heat, but only finished seven laps of the feature.

Ronnie Johnson, who stopped racing at Albany-Saratoga on Friday nights midway through the season, returned last Friday. But instead of getting what had been his normal pit stall just off the entrance to pit road, behind the pit bleachers, he was parked on the western end of the pits. “They put us in the penalty box,” joked longtime crew member Joe Bellomo.

Other champions crowned last Friday were Jason Samrov, who won his first street stock title; David Frame, who dominated the four-cylinder dual cam division; and Robert Garney Jr. (four-cylinder, single cam). Garney looked like he was in big trouble when he was involved in a wreck on lap two and had to go the rear of the field. But Tim Meltz, who began the night with the point lead, lost the rear end of his car on lap six and when Garney finished 11th overall in the oversized 26-car feature, he took home the crown.

Matt DeLorenzo’s modified victory at Malta was his 10th overall win this season overall, a career-high. He had won nine features on two occasions in the past.

There’s no racing at Albany-Saratoga on Friday, as track officials put the finishing touches on Malta Massive Weekend, which will be held Sept. 23-24.

AROUND THE TRACKS

Tim Hartman Jr. finished second in the sportsman feature at Lebanon Valley Speedway on Saturday night to capture the division title. He had to pit for repairs after an incident on lap six, but charged back up to second. LJ Lombardo won the small block modified feature.

Stone picked up a win in the DIRTcar Pro Stock series race at Weedsport last Saturday night, while Larry Wight won both the modified and Empire Super Sprints features. The Super DIRT Series race on Sunday was rained out.

Rain also washed out the final night of racing at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, allowing Andrew Buff to beat his brother Justin by 16 points for the 602 sportsman title. Sloan Cherko (junior slingshots) and Kolten Weiler (All-Star slingshots) went to victory lane before the rest of the card was rained out.